Tomorrow Was A World Away
by wildblues
Summary: [CORNER GAS] “I don’t think I’ll ever meet another person who can hold their breath for six minutes, or play table hockey like you do.” “And I don’t think I’ll ever meet someone else who thinks that Battlestar Galactica actually happened.” [DavisxKaren]


The interiors of the building were eerily quiet, the sound of their footsteps on the floorboards reverberating through the hallway as they made their way to the new Mayor's office. They now answered to the mighty Emma Leroy, as Mayor Fitzgerald had made his graceless exit earlier that day, speeding down Main Street; tires throwing up clouds of dust and gravel, curses shouted from the interior of the car. It took a good five minutes of driving for his car to finally disappear from their view along the flat prairie horizon.

They reached the Mayor's office, a new plaque reading 'Emma Leroy' haphazardly placed over the old mayor's name. Karen reached out and rapped upon the door before they let themselves into the office. Emma was sitting at her desk, knitting something that might have been the beginnings of a purple sweater, but Davis thought it more closely resembled a scarf. Emma ceased her knitting, looking up at the two officers.

"Hi Emma," Karen said, walking into the room. Davis trailed behind her, removing his hat before taking his place beside her.

Emma nodded, "Oh, hi Karen," she said cheerily, before looking down at her knitting again.

"Congratulations, Emma," Davis said, his signature smile spread wide across his features.

Emma turned to him, her demeanour changing in a heartbeat as she spoke, "That's _Mayor Leroy_ to you."

She felt a bit of grim satisfaction when the pair stared back at her, temporarily stunned, both their faces frozen in an expression that teetered between confusion and shock. Despite the new relationship between her and them, she didn't see a reason to treat them differently than she ever did; they were still the same bumbling pair of cops that constantly made the mistake of listening to her husband's baseless complaints. She had decided there was a need for change in the DRPD, a change that would result in a possibly more competent force.

She sighed, "Davis, Karen," their gaze snapped back to her immediately, confused expressions morphing into those of rapt attention, "As the new mayor, I've decided that we're going to need some changes in this town."

"Oh yeah! Change! That's just what I was thinking. Wasn't I just saying that, Karen? Wasn't I just saying that we needed change in Dog River?" Davis chimed in, nudging Karen's arm with his elbow.

"Yeah, what a coincidence," Karen deadpanned, rolling her eyes.

"I'm glad you agree," Emma said, knitting one, pearling two as she spoke, "And so, I've decided to promote Karen to Chief of Police."

The contrast of expression between the two was absolute. Karen's eyes lit up and she smiled, thanking the mayor, while Davis looked shocked and slightly hurt. He shook his head slightly, turning to whisper something to his partner that Emma didn't quite hear, nor did she care about. Karen responded with something that made him step back a little before they turned back to their new boss.

"You should work out just fine," she said, offering a semi-fake smile to the pair as her grip tightened on the knitting needles. Karen continued beaming at the mayor, while Davis looked suddenly joyless and sombre; he offered a pleading look to Emma, hugging his hat to himself as a sort of comfort

"What's gonna happen to me?" he said in a very small voice, then as some way of reassuring himself, he asked with a sort of dreamy smile, "Am I going to get a present?"

Emma almost laughed, "Oh no, not that."

His face fell, "Then what?"

"You're being transferred," she said, immediately looking down to her knitting needles with a sense of nonchalance, "There was a pretty good offer in Wullerton-" -despite the tension of the moment, the three took a moment to spit upon the newly cleaned office floor- "I'm sure you'll do fine there."

Karen's initial excitement at being promoted melted when she realized its implications – the new mayor's smile adding to her discomfort as she turned to him slowly, mouthing the name "Wullerton" with an air of silent shock. Davis looked to her a moment, before turning away and looking at the wall as if it were suddenly the most interesting thing in the world.

After a moment of thoughtful silence, Karen shattered it with a question, "When?"

"Well, I told them he'd move out today and be ready for a fresh start tomorrow, actually," Emma said, her smile suddenly unnerving to the two officers, whom moments ago were very pleased to have her as their new mayor, "That's… not a _problem_, is it?"

"No. No _Mayor Leroy_, I'll get started right away," Davis said, his voice deeper than usual, as he placed his hat back on his head.

Emma looked up at them from where she sat, noting their behaviour as far different from when they first entered the office mere minutes ago. Davis stood tall and silent, a rarely seen expression of seriousness etched upon his features. Karen looked torn between happiness and sadness, standing awkwardly next to her former partner, looking at the floor and mind visibly racing.

She had turned their world upside down within five minutes. It wasn't that she didn't feel guilty about it, she certainly would miss the blundering but well-meaning sergeant, but she was thinking about the good of the town. The town's eyes had been opened a year or so before with the arrival of the Fire Department – they had made citizens feel safe, something that they hadn't really thought about before. She thought that the citizens would have wanted that feeling again; they were in need of a more serious police force. She hoped that in replacing Davis, it would cause Karen to straighten up and take her job more seriously with her new partner.

"I'll leave you to it, then," The mayor's voice cut into their thoughts sharply, "close the door when you leave, please."

The pair left, but didn't shut the door behind them.

* * *

A cold wind whipped in through the opened window, blowing papers onto the floor. Karen bent to pick them up as Davis closed the window forcefully with an audible 'wham'. He crossed the room again to what used to be his desk, where he had been emptying its drawers into a small box. 

Neither had said anything since returning from the mayor's office; Karen had sat at her desk and pulled a piece of paper from a tray, furiously scribbling at it in an effort to make herself look busy while Davis immediately opened his desk drawer and began taking things out of it. Ten minutes passed this way, and Karen had now stopped writing and was just staring at her paper; Davis had stopped slamming things about and now sat in his chair, glaring at the edge of his desk as if it had wronged him in some way, arms crossed.

"Are you gonna be alright?" Karen said, finally looking up from her paper. He didn't answer her, instead getting back to work stuffing various items into the box; a model police car, one of his Hardy Boys books, a hackey sack, or as Karen called it, footbag. He pulled the footbag from the chaos of the drawer and tossed it onto her desk, where it rolled off its surface and fell on the opposite side.

"That's yours. I don't know how it got in here, and _no, I didn't take it_, before you ask."

"Ah, that's my fault, never mind," Karen said, pocketing the item. After finding her footbag, she had planted it in his desk so that she wouldn't look foolish. She had planned to frame him for stealing the item as she had accused, so she would've appeared right in the battle of the footbag.

Under any other circumstances, she would've followed through with that plan. But she didn't have the heart to now.

She stood up, walking across the office to where he was sitting and stood next to him, "Do you want me to help you with that?"

He didn't look up, "Sure. Can you get the stuff off the wall back there?" he gestured to the wall behind his desk, where there were plaques and other items hanging. She nodded, reaching over and plucking the various frames from the walls. His certificate from the academy, a group shot of people she didn't recognize, a medal from some sporting event he had never told her about, all were taken from the wall and carefully placed into the box.

She turned back around to see him still rummaging through the clutter of his desk, and offered to help him with that, too. Initially, he refused, but after a few minutes of prodding he agreed to let her clean the drawer on the opposite side of the desk. So she set to work, pulling out various papers with crude drawings (including his logo designs for International Protection League, and decal design for the patrol car; proudly sporting a caricature of Xena, warrior princess. She nearly laughed when she saw them again, but stopped herself before the sound came), the stun gun, a broken breathalyser that he hadn't thrown out after breaking it; they were dropped into the box as well.

A narrow silver box made her almost gasp out loud, she remembered it, what was inside it, but then remembered that she wasn't supposed to know. So she just placed it inside the large box with the other items, a small knot growing in her heart when she glanced at it again. She ignored it and continued to box the various odds and ends that littered the interior of Davis' desk.

"Are you worried?" he asked her suddenly, breaking the silence that had hung so thickly in the air between them for several minutes.

"Worried?" she asked, puzzled, "About what?"

"Well, you're the boss now. You'll probably get your own rookie to look after. You'll have to teach them the ropes, show them what Dog River's all about," Davis said, his voice heavy with an emotion that Karen wasn't able to place, "Tell them about proper billy-club use, traffic-directing privileges, jaywalking laws, all that stuff."

She said nothing in response, and he continued, "It'll be tough work, but you can do it, _Sergeant_."

"I'd rather be the rookie," she said, offering a sort of sad smile that broke his heart. Almost immediately, she looked down and began to absently toy with a model police car that he had on his desk. Sensing that she wasn't going to say anything else, he turned back to his desk drawer, removing the last two items from it and placing them in the box; an emergency set of napkins and one of the spare Clavet Cup trophies.

"I can come visit you, if you want," she suddenly said, putting the car into the box with the other items. He chuckled almost bitterly; he knew she wouldn't. Nobody from Dog River went to Wullerton without a very good reason, unless they _wanted_ to be treated like dirt. It was the same for the people of Wullerton – the two towns rarely mixed, and when they did, it ended in disaster.

"That'd be nice," was all he said, standing up from his chair and stretching, "Well, that's all the stuff from my desk. I'll get anything else later." He grabbed the box and lifted it, turning to the door.

"Wait!" Karen's voice rang sharply throughout the small office, and he turned back to face her.

In the years they had worked together, he hadn't seen her like this. He had seen her happy, nervous, angry, and at the most, mildly upset, but he had never seen her look genuinely sad; he had never seen her cry. Sometimes he even doubted that she _could_ cry. Yet there she stood, her eyes threatening to spill over with unshed tears and her voice shaking, he was witnessing a Karen he had never before seen. A Karen he had hoped he would never see, especially at a time like this.

"Karen…" he said, but was cut off when she quickly crossed the room to where he stood and ripped the box from his hands. She tossed it onto his desk almost violently, and then did something he had never seen her do to anyone before.

She threw her arms around him tightly, burying her face in his chest. Ignoring the overpowering smell of his cologne (something she had never really liked), she clung to his neatly pressed uniform shirt desperately, eyes squeezed tightly shut. She held her breath, awaiting some sort of response from her former partner, and briefly contemplated pulling away and leaving the room after all. When she felt his arms wrap around her and hold her firmly, she began to breathe again; ragged, uneven breaths that shook her small frame and prompted him to hold her closer.

Neither said anything for a while, they just stood between the two desks in the middle of the office, the only sound the ticking of the wall clock and the distant rumble of a prairie storm.

"Karen…" he started again, his voice a deep rumble she could feel in his chest, "I'll miss you. A lot."

She responded with a choking sound and her grip tightened, "Me too," she managed to say. A few more moments passed before she found her words again, and she muttered something he couldn't quite make out.

"Hmm?" he said, looking down at the top of her head.

"Hah, I got your shirt all wet," she said, smiling slightly before wiping her eyes with one of her oversized sleeves.

"Nah, it looks better that way," Davis said, offering her the signature Davis Smile and she laughed. He thought she looked so pretty when she laughed, he was always looking for new ways to get her to do it. His heart became heavy again when he realized he wouldn't be able to do that anymore. No more mid-afternoon naps in the car, no more sitting on the steps to sip at their coffee, no more loitering around The Ruby or Corner Gas to avoid doing actual work. Hell, he'd even miss the completely random quests that Oscar managed to convince them to undertake. When the revelation finally dawned upon him, he pulled her closer to him.

"You know, I don't think I'll ever meet another person who can hold their breath for six minutes, or play table hockey like you do."

"And I don't think I'll ever meet someone else who thinks that Battlestar Galactica actually happened," she said, laughing.

"_May have_ happened. You see-"

"Don't get into that now," she said, smiling and shaking her head, "You don't wanna ruin this, do you?"

"No," he said softly. The comfortable silence again hung in the air, wrapping itself around them warmly.

Eventually, she wriggled from his grasp, saying something how the storm had rolled into Dog River – and surely enough, rain was pouring from the open sky outside the window. As if nothing had happened, she grabbed her jacket from the hook near the door and pulled it on, "I'll help you with the box. Hold the doors or something," and she quickly slinked out of the room and down the hallway.

He sighed, grabbing the box from where she had thrown it onto his desk. Looking inside it, he noticed a small silver box resting amongst the other items – he hadn't even remembered that he kept it. He pulled the small box out, opening it and taking the white gold watch from inside it, letting it dangle a moment before replacing it in the box. He crossed the room to where Karen's desk was, opened her desk drawer and placed the small silver box inside before closing it; he may as well give it to her now, he thought, there probably wouldn't really be another time.

"Come on! It's really pouring out here!" came her voice from down the hall, and he went back to pick up the desk-content box again.

"I'm coming," he called back, carefully manoeuvring his way through the office door and walking down the hall to where she stood waiting with the door open. He squeezed through the front door, box in hands, and made his way to his truck, parked next to the patrol car. Ignoring the rain that pounded down on his shoulders, he opened the passenger side door and placed the box on the seat before closing it again. He stood still a moment, not really knowing what he should be doing next; should he go back into the station? Should he drive off now?

His decision was made for him when Karen came down the front steps to stand beside him; she grabbed his hand and pushed the keys to the police cruiser to his palm.

She smiled warmly, rain cascading down the brim of her hat, "Get in the car, we're going to The Ruby," was all she said, and she sloshed through the dirty brown puddles that were forming on the road to where the car was parked. He smiled too, following and opening the passenger door for her before taking his seat at the driver's side.

The rain poured mercilessly from the open Saskatchewan sky, drenching Dog River in a blanket of cold, unforgiving water. One lone police cruiser dashed through the puddles that were accumulating along the surface of the dirty gravelled roads; tossing mud onto the pristine white exterior, blasting music loudly from its speakers as the pair of police officers bid Dog River a final goodbye, singing to the sound of the music at the top of their lungs, voices drowned out by the sound of the pounding rain. Tomorrow was a world away, and the rest of the day was theirs alone.

* * *

_I guess you could consider this an AU fic or something – based on the season four finale which didn't really happen, right? I figure that if that episode had actually happened, Davis deserved a far better sendoff than what he got (yes, even f it wasn't real – Lacey got a good one, still!)_

_I hope I didn't skew their characters too much. I might be teetering on the edge a bit with Karen, but we've got to remember she's only human! They all are! They can be sad, too ____ Also, I'm sorry if I made Emma seem a little too harsh. Emma's alright!_

_Anyway, enjoy this sappy schlop if you can! Haha__**, everyone write more CG fic right now!**_


End file.
